


Ailurophile, Ailurophobe

by akisazame



Category: Persona 4
Genre: F/M, and a cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-13
Updated: 2009-01-13
Packaged: 2018-02-24 12:56:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2582174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akisazame/pseuds/akisazame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kanji and Naoto leave Souji's house and see the cat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ailurophile, Ailurophobe

It was the Sunday before midterms, and the investigation team had decided to have a group study session at Souji's house in order to prepare. As usual, the whole thing had been far less productive than they had intended. Yukiko and Yosuke had been too busy with their respective jobs to come, Chie had insisted on raiding the Dojimas' fridge once every five minutes, and Rise couldn't stop hanging all over Souji long enough for him to provide any useful help to the rest of them. That left Kanji and Naoto, sitting awkwardly on either side of the couch, reading and studying separately. At least, Naoto had been reading and studying; Kanji, on the other hand, couldn't keep his gaze from wandering over to the slim, boyish girl he was sitting uncomfortably close to (because, somehow, two feet away was still uncomfortably close).

The party had broken up near nightfall, when Detective Dojima had come home exhausted from another long day at the police station. He'd tried to be courteous to the studying high schoolers, but Souji had insisted under his breath that the rest of them should probably leave. Rise whined long and hard about it, but eventually they had all waved their goodbyes from the front porch and went their separate ways. Kanji hovered just behind Naoto, toying with the idea of offering to walk her home, but everything he thought of to say sounded completely stupid in his head. Instead, he just stood there dumbly, watching the back of Naoto's head, opening and closing his mouth like some kind of idiot. Why hadn't she started walking yet? It's like she was trying to drive him crazy on purpose.

Eventually the words tumbled out of Kanji's mouth. "Uh, Naoto..."

She didn't move, didn't even flinch, and Kanji wondered if maybe she hadn't heard him. He dared to take a step closer (ugh, why was this so frickin' _uncomfortable?_ ) and was about to reach out and tap her on the shoulder, when he noticed that her eyes were locked onto something small and orange perched on the stone wall bordering the house.

"Aww, I didn't know Senpai had a cat," Kanji said, forgetting Naoto for the moment and stepping towards the cat. It looked at him warily, eyeing his approaching hands with suspicion, but allowed the large teenage boy to pick him up. "That's a good kitty," he cooed in a soft voice, rubbing his finger gently along the cat's jaw, causing it to lean in towards his hand.

Naoto watched this scene with just as much suspicion as the cat originally had. "I never would have pinned you for an ailurophile, Kanji-kun."

Kanji blinked up at Naoto, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "Uhh, I wouldn't say I'm a ailuro-whatever. Cats're just nice, I guess." He couldn't help but notice the cautious edge in her voice and the wary look in her eyes. "What, you don't like 'em or somethin', Naoto?"

"Er, well, I wouldn't say that," Naoto said, looking away and rubbing the back of her neck. "It's just, er... cats don't particularly like _me,_ is all."

Immediately rejecting the idea that _anything_ couldn't like Naoto, Kanji took a step forward. Naoto instantly reciprocated with a step backward. "C'mon, Naoto, I'm sure cats like ya. How could they--" He managed to catch himself, somehow, miraculously. "Er, I mean, cats are just standoffish and stuff, you know? You just gotta know how to treat 'em." Even he wasn't blind to the irony of his words; if only he could figure out Naoto as easily as he could figure out cats.

The stiffness in Naoto's face softened a little. Even so, she continued to keep her distance from the offending animal. "Even so, I'd really prefer not to--"

"Ain't gonna get over your fear if you keep runnin' away," Kanji blurted out without thinking. _Yeah, no shit, huh?_ "C'mon, I won't let the little guy hurt you."

Naoto looked back up at the cat, staring into its eyes; certainly, she didn't sense any maliciousness there, but one could never be sure with animals. She bit her lip nervously. "You're absolutely sure?" Her eyes flicked up to meet Kanji's, and the look she saw was one of reassurance (although she could have sworn she saw some kind of weird apprehension mixed in there, too; to be honest, she was getting quite tired of seeing that look in Kanji's eyes all the time, as though he were a deer trapped in a car's headlights). Against her better judgement, Naoto reached out one tentative hand towards the cat, very slow, in an attempt to keep from startling the creature.

Suddenly, the cat let out a meow and leapt from Kanji's arms, bouncing briefly off of Naoto's outstretched hand before landing on the ground and running off.

Acting on impulse, Kanji's hand flew to grab Naoto's, examining it for injuries. "Cat didn't scratch you, did it?" His voice was filled with concern, and he pulled Naoto's hand closer to get a better look, pulling Naoto closer to him in the process.

More surprised by Kanji's reaction than by the cat's sudden escape, Naoto tried to pull away. "I'm quite alright, Kanji-kun. It only bumped me on its way to the ground." Despite her best efforts, she found that she couldn't wriggle her way out of Kanji's grip. "Really, Kanji-kun, you can let go now..."

The reality of what he was doing hit Kanji like a ton of bricks, and he dropped Naoto's hand instantly, as if it were on fire. It definitely hadn't been on fire, though; it had been a lot softer and warmer than what he'd expected, somehow. He turned around, his back to Naoto, unable to meet her eyes. "Er, uh, yeah, sorry about that... guess I should be going home anyway... haha..."

There was a strange feeling in Naoto's stomach, something she couldn't clearly identify. Whatever it was, it was insisting that this was the wrong course of action. Then what exactly was the right course of action? This was why she tried to avoid dealing with people; no matter what she did, they always ended up doing something unexpected. _Well then,_ said the logical part of her brain, _perhaps you should do something unexpected right back._

Quick as a flash, Naoto's hand darted out and grabbed hold of Kanji's. It was almost comical how much larger his hand was compared to hers, but something about the way her tiny hand could disappear inside of his was soothing somehow. "I- it's getting kind of dark, isn't it?" Naoto murmured, looking off to the side to avoid Kanji's dumbfounded gaze. "Perhaps we could walk part of the way together?"

For the second time in the past few minutes, Kanji found himself opening and closing his mouth uselessly. Ever since they had rescued Naoto from the secret laboratory inside the TV and seen her Shadow self's true feelings, all that Kanji had wanted to do was protect her. And now, with her hand nestled safe inside his, he felt like he might have a chance to do exactly that.


End file.
